IPSIDE Group has acquired Santarelli and strengthens its market share in the IP sector

February 2021 — Ipside Group has acquired Santarelli, a leading French firm advising on matters involving patents, trademarks, industrial designs, as well as domain names.

Founded in 1980, Ipside was created by a series of mergers involving several industrial property firms: Lerner, Grynwald, Thébault, and more recently Ravina and Poupon. By bringing together firms with a different focus, Ipside gained a strong national presence. The Ipside Intellectual Property Law firm assists and advises international clients in the process of filing IP applications (patents, trademarks and models), and prosecuting and defending their intellectual rights both in France and abroad, notably in the EU. Based in Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes and Quimper, and including its branch offices in Las Vegas, US, and Shenzhen and Chengdu in China, the group has a team of more than 80 people.

Santarelli helps clients protect and gain full benefit from their rights. Strengthened by an international network of experienced and established IP law firms, it supports clients around the world. Santarelli is the result of the merger between Bonnet-Thirion and Rinuy, Santarelli. Bonnet-Thirion was founded in 1852 by Charles Thirion, author of several articles and books on Intellectual Property, who played a key role in promoting the signature of the International Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1883. Rinuy, Santarelli, founded in 1977, mainly served international clients and was highly recognized for its expertise in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, mechanics and electronics.

Our role in the transaction

In addition to assisting Ipside Group in structuring its second LBO, Oaklins’ team in France also led the merger with Santarelli in a very short time frame (four months). Oaklins organized an operational merger, bringing together the shareholder and managers of the two groups into a single entity. Oaklins assisted Ipside and its new financial shareholders in the organization, negotiation and completion of this transaction.